PRIV S49a Compare different spam plugins

Comparing different spam plugins

We tried the 10 best anti-spam plugins according to this article. Here it is our feedback.

1) Akismet

Developed by Automattic – the company behind WordPress, this is one of the most popular cloud-based and free anti-spam plugins ever developed for WordPress. Akismet employs a web service powered by cloud servers which evaluates comments for spam. First you need to connect to the cloud service using an API key which can be obtained by registering for the service.

Feedback:

The best plugin in the market. We use free version on all blogs and SNBCHF. We installed on all of the blogs and in one hour all the spam comments were checked and marked as SPAM. It is the only free plugin, which has “check for spam” button and can check all of the excising comments.

2) Anti-Spam by CleanTalk – No Captcha, no Comments & Registrations Spam

CleanTalk is a premium cloud-based antispam plugin for WordPress which blocks spam comments, spam bot signups and trackbacks.

The plugin works very similar to Akismet where the incoming comments are uploaded to CleanTalk’s cloud servers which where they go multiple validation checks. Depending on the results, the comments are then moved to the spam queue or are approved and published.

Feedback:

It is very good plugin, but it is paid. We have many websites and it will costs us money. Some of the blogs are not so popular, so we need a free alternative. But this is absolutely the best paid service for such an job. Twice better than Akismet and twice cheaper than Akismet paid plans.

3) WangGuard

WangGuard is another cloud based anti-spam plugins with tons of amazing spam validators. Similar to Akismet, you need to connect to the service using an API key and the rest follows.

Feedback:

We tried this plugin on two different websites. It can’t connect to their servers and the plugin is not working. We tried to force manually to start working, but without effect. After 30minuites we gave up and remove the plugin due to connection issues.

4) Anti-Spam Bee

Anti-Spam Bee is a completely free WordPress plugin for both personal and commercial use. Unlike Akismet, Anti-Spam Bee plugin it does not require user registration. However, this plugin does not use cloud-powered spam detection algorithms. It relies on server-side techniques such as matching it against a public spam database, validating the IP address of commenters, using regular expressions, trusting commenters with Gravatar as non-spammers, etc.

Feedback:

It looks very good. Theoretically has very good features, but it has one big disadvantage. It can’t check the existing comments. For us this is MUST-HAVE functionality and we gave up from this plugin. Probably on a new site it is a perfect, free alternative of Akismet. We did not have time to test it for a week to know the result.

5) WP-SpamShield Anti-Spam

This popular free plugin uses a double-layered protection service to defend your WordPress site from spam. The first layer uses a mixture of JavaScript and web cookies which blocks most automated spam bots.

Even if a few insanely clever bots manage to evade the plugins first line of defence, the second layer – called the Algorithmic Anti-Spam Layer – uses over a hundred spam detection algorithms which checks the comment for spam. In short, only the smartest spam on earth might be able to evade this plugin. For all practical purposes – you’re good.

Feedback:

The same as Antispam Bee it does not have “force check” of excising comments. It is more form spam checker, than comment spam checker. It adds captcha and some other features to the forms. Advantage is that it is compatible with Contact Form 7, but we do not use CF7.

6) WordPress Zero Spam

This is a completely free anti-spam WordPress plugin which is built based on a concept developed by Mozilla founder David Walsh.

Feedback:

The same as the plugins above – no “force check” feature. It is definitely less popular than the plugins above. Disadvantage is that it does not have good support and compared to the rest plugins a few features only.

7) Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin

Growmap Anti Spambot (GASP) is a free plugin which inhibits spam bots by adding dynamically generated named fields to comment form.

Feedback:

The same – no “force check”. It also looks very spammy and I don’t trust him. They need better look & feel.

8) WPBruiser {no-Captcha anti-Spam}

According to the plugin’s page –

“WPBruiser (formerly GoodBye Captcha) is an anti-spam and security plugin is based on algorithms that identify spam bots without any annoying and hard to read captcha images.”

The developer claims that the plugin does not display any captchas or common validation mechanisms to the visitor. The plugin does not let spam enter your WordPress site.

Feedback:

It is alternative of  captcha, not of spam plugin. No “force check”. I did not test it further after these disadvantages.

9) Stop Spammers Spam Prevention

This plugin is yet another awesome server and client-side anti-spam WordPress plugin with over twenty different checks for spam comments. The plugin also prevents login page spam and has over 12 pages of options for heavy user customization.

The plugin features a blacklist filter, where any comment containing the blacklisted keyword will be directly sent to the spam queue. This is especially useful for preventing competitor keywords from appearing in your website.

Feedback:

The same disadvantages as the plugins above. I did not loose too much time with him, it looks very amateur according to the rest.

10) WP-SpamFree Anti-Spam

The final plugin in our list, WP-SpamFree Anti-Spam works invisibly in the background and eliminates blog comment spam, including trackback and pingback spam.

Feedback:

I look at this plugin for no more than 5 minutes. It does not have good description. The design looks awful. I did not install it, because I do not trust this plugin. It also does not have “force check” function.